L. Nzingha SamuEl
Title: Educational Director/Co-Founder
Subject: General Studies
Clusters: K - 12th
Educational Director & Co-Founder L. Nzingha SamuEl holds a B.A., B.B.A., and M.S. in Educational Psychology from Georgia State University. She is currently pursuing an ED.D in Educational Leadership and Curriculum Development from Nova Southeastern University. In addition to her formal education, she travels extensively to various international destinations throughout the Diaspora annually, studying her personal history and using those experiences to add value to the local community. Mama Nzingha uses the lessons she learned from Baba Asa Hilliard, Mama Marimba Ani, her parents, her students, and her close friends to enhance her personal growth, and academic prowess. She is committed to utilizing project-based education to surpass state, national and international standards by allowing the students to express knowledge of what they have learned through their own personal gifts. She believes early exposure to terms, concepts, critical-thinking skills, languages, cultures, and people from our neighborhoods, communities, villages, towns, cities, and countries will give our students the academic tools they need to succeed.
“Eight years in the classroom, six schools, and five classes later, I have finally taken a large step in institution building. Black Star Educational Institute (BSEI) is the culmination of my years of diligent educational and community service including classroom instruction, my formal University education, answering the call of my Ancestors, and most of all my community activism. BSEI was born out of the need to fill a void that existed in African-Centered education. Thus, in September of 2009, several students began the first middle school class of BSEI. Developing this institution is one of my most significant accomplishments to date--especially as we expand to a K-12 institute in 2010. I enjoy watching my students use the tools they are given at Black Star to flourish and rebuild our nation.”
Alysia Dumas
Title: Business Administrative Director, Co-founder of BSEI
"If you build it, they will come. I knew with the proper foundation Black Star Educational Institute would exceed our expectations--and it has. It is imperative that the proper foundation, which is the support of the entire structure, is in place. My mission is to ensure that the structure remains solid!"
Fatimah
Title: Lead Instructor
Subject: John Henrik Clarke
Cluster: K - 2nd
"My approach to teaching is wholistic and African-centered. While I teach according to Georgia standards, I teach from an African perspective."
Balagun Arinwaka
Title: Instructor
Subject: Science
Cluster: 6th - 8th & 9th - 12th
"Learning is living, learning should be an enjoyable experience as well as a challenging one. The ultimate lesson, in my opinion, should feel like an obstacle course: fun and requiring large amounts of effort."
Sean Irving
Title: Instructor
Subject: AFRImusicology - Video Production
Cluster: 6th - 8th & 9th - 12th
"I teach to enlighten, empower, and inspire our children to reach their highest potential in preparation to serve their community. I hope they will use the knowledge and skills gained in my class to help actualize their dreams!"
Kwabena Ofosuhene
Title:Instructor
Subject: Reading & Math
Cluster: K-2nd
“ ‘All children are seeds of divinely inspired possibility which will grow to their fullest expression of all they can become, when nurtured in their proper contexts (Nobles).’ With that being stated, anytime I walk into a classroom or whenever I’m in the presence of youth, I hope to transmit my light of intellect, rhythm, and verve at an angle which our children’s greatness is effortlessly educed.”
Ifetayo TaMiko Condoll-Blount
Title: Operations Manager
Ifetayo TaMiko Condoll-Blount holds a BA in Communications/Integrative Studies with a minor in English Writing from Loyola and Clayton State Universities. She has worked in educational administration for the past thirteen years—ten years as the Assistant to the Director of Africana & Multicultural Studies for the New Orleans Public Schools and three years as the Executive Assistant to the Superintendent of Catholic Schools, in Atlanta.
"I believe that successful African educational institutions require solid infrastructure which must be painstakingly and deliberately constructed—just as the foundation of a house is firmly set in place. This allows them to develop and grow to the monumental heights hoped for at their inception. Black Star has the potential to do just that!"
Chateé Omísadé Richardson
Title: Counselor/Office Administrator/Teacher
Subject: General Studies
Clusters: K-12th
“Each of us is a seed of divinely inspired possibility which when nurtured in our proper context, can and will grow to the fullest expression of all we are supposed to become.” -Dr. Wade Nobles
Through the guidance of the ancestors and her elders, Omísadé’s personal mission has become to nurture and challenge African youth mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally through the standpoint of their proper context; African culture. Many of our youth are never exposed to our African legacy, or they do not learn about it until they go to college and take an African studies course. In response, Omísadé has become a proponent of culturally responsive curriculum development. Omísadé holds a B.A. from the University of California Irvine in the Dramatic Arts, an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Nebraska Lincoln, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with a specialization in multicultural education and culturally responsive pedagogy at Georgia State University. She has nine years of experience as a teacher and three years of experience as a counselor working with underserved populations; youth and adults ages 5-40 from various cultural backgrounds. She requires her students to think critically, remain true to themselves, adopt community accountability, and be able to operate in mainstream education/culture. She blends her talents and passion working with the young scholars of Black Star as an office administrator, counselor, and teacher.
Angela Mayrie Pope Margerum
Title: Media Specialist
Subject: Reference & Reader’s Advisory, Research Skills/Database Instruction
Cluster: K-12th
“Children have never been good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them." James Baldwin, 1924-1987
Bebop: The Hip-Hop Librarian. I’ve always been that – “Hip Hop” -, long before I enrolled in Library School. Growing up seeing our adults and children NOT using these FREE institutions of higher learning due to the invisible walls that exist in our minds, telling us “what we can’t do, what we aren’t supposed to be smart enough to do”, lead me to pursue and earn a degree in the field. I purposely pursued a career in Public Libraries because the youth in all of our urban areas needed to see someone who looked like them in these wonderful, FREE – (yes, emphasis on FREE), institutions of higher learning. There’s no stopping you once you’ve mastered the art and skill of what it truly means to be functionally literate. My passion for learning coupled with my LOVE for the youth, effortlessly comes across to all who’ve seen me at work. The youth respond when they know you LOVE them, care about them, and demand the BEST of them. We can’t lose if we all work together. When you tap into the natural genius of our children, you build the entire nation. Can’t Stop – Won’t Stop, Elevating the Youth.
Angela Mayrie has spent 13+ years as a Librarian serving our communities in Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, and Milwaukee. Working as a Juvenile Probation Officer for two years, motivated her to find another way to work with the youth through FREE community activities at local libraries BEFORE they become entwined in the prison industrial complex. As a P.O., she changed the lives of many youth by exposing their families to one of the most untapped neighborhood resources, the public library. Margerum earned her B.A. in Sociology from Hampton University and her Master of Science in Library Service from Clark Atlanta University.